“Yeah, I did,” he said as he rubbed the sanitizer up his forearms. “And then I spent all my time treating people with busted eye sockets and shattered hips. Not many pregnant people climbing Lassen.”
I patted his shoulder as I circled around behind Carina. “Who can I call for you?” I asked her.
“My-my-my husband,” she roared.
I placed a quick call to a very alarmed father-to-be and then accepted the freshly sterilized knife from the manager. With any luck, the paramedics would make it here early and we wouldn’t need kitchen tools to cut the umbilical cord, but this whole situation screamedbetter safe than sorry.
“That’s the head,” Henry said, almost like he didn’t believe it.
“Yep. She’s crowning,” Meri said to him. “This baby is in a big ol’ rush to meet us. Okay, guide the head. Steady. Gentle pressure there. Check the neck. Good. Get ready to catch this baby.”
“What?” he yelped.
“Just catch the baby. That’s all you have to do.” Meri dropped her hand to Carina’s knee, saying, “You’re doing great. One more push and we’re there.”
Within a minute, a cry filled the small café. Henry held the baby in a tablecloth while Meri talked him through an Apgar score.
“Congratulations,” I said to Carina as I monitored her vital signs. “It’s a boy—and he has quite a set of lungs.”
Sirens blared outside as the ambulance pulled up. Handing off Carina and the new baby took only a few minutes and Meri followed them out to the street, bossing everyone around and promising to check on her tonight. Henry and I were left with a slightly wrecked café while the bewildered staff peeked out from the kitchen.
Henry turned to me, his eyes wild and his lips parted. “I just delivered a baby,” he said, stepping closer. “I delivered ababy.”
I didn’t think twice about opening my arms to him and I didn’t stop him when he gathered me up and swept me off my feet like I weighed nothing. I just hugged him back. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
“So fucking much.” He pressed his lips to my neck and I knew I was in over my head here, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.Just like I couldn’t bring myself to leave his arms. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
“I’d like to say it’s a first, but Meri delivers a lot of babies. She hates it.”
Henry held me tighter, his hands spanning my rib cage and his mouth at the crook of my shoulder, and I knew our time was running out. Meri would walk in any second and the staff would want their café back and everything else in our worlds would intrude, but I wanted every ounce of this moment. I wanted everything I could wring out of it.
He growled into my skin like he was thinking the same thing. Then, “I miss you.”
“I know,” I breathed.I miss you too.
Meri returned, clearing her throat and loudly sanding her hands together as she approached. “At least it was quick.” She watched as Henry and I broke apart, her forehead crinkled. “And uncomplicated. For real though, I need to start carrying a delivery kit with me. I really hate when I have to bubblegum-and-duct-tape my way through these things. Or better yet, people could stop going into labor around me. Just one time, I’d like to see you do some work, Whit.”
“The next time someone needs a heart transplant in the middle of a restaurant, I’ll be sure to take the lead on that.”
“You’re just so funny.” She turned to Henry, saying, “I went into fetal and neonatal because I liked the babies but not the birthing. You know what that got me? A lifetime of catching babies in random places. The universe enjoys saying, ‘Nice try but nope.’”
I wagged a finger at her. “At least the sweater survived.”
“Perhaps in principle, but it’s clearly cursed,” she said.
“She does this,” I said to Henry. “Every time she has to deliver a baby in the wild, she decides the clothes or the place or the song playing when it went and it’s all off-limits. There’sa really beautiful inn near Big Sur that we can never go back to because of Meri and her mysticism.”
As Henry laughed, Meri swept a glance between us. “Don’t we have to get Hazlette back to Dr. Salas?”
“Oh, shit,” he said under his breath. He picked his way through all the chairs and tables that’d been pushed aside and rushed toward the counter. “I forgot about lunch.”
“You were a little busy,” I said. “I think it will be okay.”
“I’ll give her a call and let her know what happened,” Meri said, “but I’d hurry on back if I were you.”
“Thanks for teaching me today, Dr. Mercer,” Henry said as he made his way to the door. He exhaled when his gaze settled on me. I shuddered like that breath could knock me over. “I’m sure I’ll see you around, Dr. Aldritch.”
When he was gone, Meri nudged me, saying, “You’re welcome.”
